Hero
by HealInTime
Summary: Tony Stark is the man who has everything, at least on the outside. Desperate to stop his inner turmoil he has fallen into the clutches of alcohol. When his friends hold an intervention to stop his destructive behavior he is forced to go to group therapy where he meets a man who seems to be everything he has ever searched for. FrostIron. AU
1. Intervention

With a heavy sigh the man leaned forward and pressed his forehead into the seat in front of him. His eyes were closed as he was attempting to block out the scenery around him as the car sped through the streets of New York. He reached up and pressed his fingers to his temples, hissing slightly under his breath as that sent an explosion of pain through his already pounding head.

"You alright back there, Tony?" The driver, Happy, asked looking in the mirror.

The named man groaned at this new noise but replied anyway, "Yeah, yeah. I'm good. I just really need to get back home."

Tony gripped the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and wondered to himself when everything had gotten so hard to handle. It seemed that just walking into work set him on edge, and by the end of the day he was aching to simply return home and knock back a few drinks. Being CEO of a major company had always been hard, but he had managed it without issues until recently. Perhaps it was his split with Pepper, or the fact that the anniversary of his fathers death was coming up, or maybe it was something completely unrelated. Did it really matter though? Tony thought not.

His press conferences had been just as they always had, he flirted and smiled and was his constant snarky self. Every once and a while he would bring home a woman just to keep up his appearances, as awful as that sounded. It was obvious however, at least to himself, that things were not the same. Those evenings in which he was alone were full of depressing thoughts and attempts to drink away the feelings. He was so unlike himself. In fact, he didn't even know who Tony Stark really was anymore.

"Hey, man. We're here." Happy spoke softly, as if he knew of the pounding in Tony's mind.

With a grunt the billionaire threw open his door, "Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Just as he was about to step out of the car, his driver and friend spoke again, "Try to take care of yourself, okay, Tony?"

"Uh-huh. You got it." Tony gave him the 'okay' sign with his fingers as he shut the car door behind him.

Tony sauntered his way up the sidewalk and quickly entered in the code for the building. The door sung open and he stepped inside, grateful for the blast of AC that greeted him. He kicked his shoes off and spoke aloud, "Afternoon, Jarvis."

"_Hello, sir." _The AI responded instantly, _"You have visitors."_

Tony's eyebrows knit together in confusion and he frowned while replying, "Where are they?"

"_They are all in the living room up in the penthouse."_

Stark blinked and shuffled his way to the elevator, confused as all hell. Why would people be here? He had no recollection of inviting anyone over and it was strange that they would have arrived before even he did. As far as he knew, there was no reason for people to be in his home at all.

Stepping off the elevator and into the spacious living room of the top floor, Tony raised an eyebrow at the people there. His head of security Natasha Romanoff was perched on the arm of the couch, directly to the left of her was one of the other security high-ups Clint Barton. His assistant, and former girlfriend, Pepper Potts was seated next to Clint with her hands folded tightly in her lap. His 'science bro' Bruce Banner was sitting on one of the arm chairs, looking very uncomfortable. Steve was sitting on the floor behind the coffee table, reading the newspaper.

The chatter and action in the room ceased the moment Tony walked in. He instantly felt awkward with everyone's eyes on him and quickly made his way over to the bar while calling over his shoulder, "What the hell guys? Did someone die?"

"No." It was Steve who replied to him, "Not yet anyway."

Tony raised a single eyebrow at the statement while pouring himself a generous amount of scotch. He decided not to ask if anyone wanted some seeing as they could just get it themselves if they were so inclined. Stark tipped back the drink and downed half of it in one pull. "So who's on their death bed?"

"You are." Steve answered for the room again.

Snorting, the man took the only open arm chair and replied, "Well I feel mighty spry for a man who is apparently dying."

"Tony." It was now Pepper who spoke, and the man realized with shock that there were tears falling from her eyes, "Please drop your attitude. We are all here for you."

The headache that had calmed down slightly after his first drink returned in full at her statement. What the hell did that mean? He took another sip of the burning beverage and waited for them to continue.

Natasha leaned in closer to him and said in an emotionless tone, "We have all noticed the way your drinking habits have picked up and we fear that you have developed a problem."

Before he could stop himself he barked out a laugh, "A problem? What are you talking about? I'm perfectly fine."

"No," she continued, "You aren't. We know that something is wrong and we need to get your habits under control before you kill yourself."

Another voice, Pepper's, chimed in before he could defend himself, "I knew that you would never agree to a rehab, but I found a group therapy class that meets three times a week. It's completely private and everyone who is there has their own issues to worry about. No one is going to mind the fact that the CEO of Stark Industries is there."

Tony stared at them all for a moment then he laughed heartily, "This is a stupid joke."

"Tony," Banner spoke up for the first time, face sonic, "This is no prank."

Slowly the smile fell from his lips as he looked around the room. The expressions ranged from grief-stricken to exhausted to blank stares but they all had that concerned look in their eyes. Tony felt his hand shake as he set the glass on the table, as if this could prove that he had no issue with his drinking. Swallowing hard, he spoke, "I don't need this. Your concern is unnecessary."

"You do need it." Natasha was replying now, as Pepper was unable to because of her efforts to choke back sobs, "And you haven't much of a choice. We already enrolled you in the therapy. You start tomorrow night." She held out a pamphlet to him.

Tony took it without question but did not look at it. He knew that it was probably just information about the place and directions on how to get there. Honestly, he didn't care. He wasn't going to go but he knew enough that he should nod and agree, or else they would never go away. "Okay."

"Happy will be here to be sure that you go. You are not going into work tomorrow; instead you will be staying here and relaxing. Steve is going to be coming with incase he has to drag you to the car." Natasha crossed her arms, signaling that she had read his mind and that there was no way out.

With a sigh, he leaned forward and picked up his drink. He swallowed the rest of it in one gulp then nodded his head at the people in the room. Great, just fucking great.


	2. Welcome to Class

**A/N: Hey! I'm glad that people are showing interest in this story. I got the idea from the song Hero by Skillet, so go listen to that if you are so inclined! The chapters will become longer as I progress but for now I'm going to keep them semi-short while I wait for more feedback. Please, _please_ review! I appreciate all the support.**

Tony pressed a hand to the large glass window and looked out over the bustling streets of New York. The city was a buzz with the prospect of a new day. He could see people, small as ants, making their way to work, job interviews, restaurants and shopping outlets. They all had some place to be and they had to get there as quickly as possible. Perhaps this is why Tony despised this city, all the rush. He wished that things could just slow down and relax for a change. He figured that if the world could be still for just one day, maybe he could fix things and work out all his problems. If the world could only take pause, his life could return to normal.

The billionaire stepped away from the window and walked back into his living room. He couldn't help but feel like a prisoner here. Despite how large and grand the penthouse was, it just wasn't like his Malibu home. Stark plopped down onto the couch and chewed mindlessly on his fingernails while he anticipated the events that were about to come. He did not want to go to therapy; in fact, he would rather get thrown out a window than attend such a ridiculous thing.

"Jarvis, what time is it?" Tony questioned his AI.

"_It is noon, sir."_

With a groan Stark fell onto his side on the couch, he had to wait another five hours before he could get this over with and he couldn't drink because he _knew _that if he showed up drunk it would prove he had a problem and Steve would probably kick his ass for putting him through that.

Tony curled up on the couch and decided that sleeping for the next few hours didn't seem like a very bad idea at all.

~.~

"Dammit, Tony!" A rather angry voice yelled whilst shaking the semi-conscious man, "Wake the hell up. We told you to be ready to go by 4:30."

The now awake man shoved Steve away from him and sat up, rubbing his still tired eyes, "I fell asleep; you're just pissy you weren't there to sleep with me."

"There is no time for your snarky remarks. We have to get going."

Sighing dramatically, Tony stood up and stretched his back out, "Okay. Let's go, Captain Asshole."

Steve's eyes narrowed and he turned and walked briskly to the elevator. He hated having Tony call him Captain, or Cap, or Captain America. _Yes_, he was very proud of his country, _yes_ he had served in the military and _maybe_ it was true that his room and wardrobe consisted of our flag's colours but that was beside the point. His name was Steve Rogers and he wished to be addressed as such.

"Oh, stop your pouting, Steve." Tony grinned at his friend while rolling his eyes as the elevator began its descent, "You know I'm just fucking with you."

"I really do not understand your need for ridiculous nicknames, but I know you just like to get a rise out of me."

The billionaire made a point of looking him up and down very slowly, "You know that I would like that."

A light blush touched Steve's cheeks and he stuttered under Tony's searching gaze, "Wha-? That's not what I meant!"

Tony laughed loudly as he stepped off the elevator, god it was just too easy to make Steve uncomfortable, it was not even a challenge for him anymore! Still grinning to himself, Tony left the building and slid into the car that was parked outside waiting for them. A few moments later, a still flustered looking Steve Rogers got into the vehicle beside him.

Happy glanced over his shoulder at the two men, making sure they were buckled in, and then he started off to their destination. Steve had already given him the directions before he had gone upstairs to retrieve Stark.

Tony, who now realized that this therapy thing was really and truly happening, looked out the window, all traces of his smile gone. It pissed him off that they did not trust him to take care of himself and it also infuriated him that he was being forced into this. Besides being handed things, Tony's least favorite activity was being pressured to do something that he did not want to do. He knew that they were all trying to look out for his well being, but he couldn't bring himself to feel touched by this. The closer they got to the place, the more Tony wished he could have a drink, or two, or ten.

"Tony, we're here." Steve said, unbuckling his seat belt.

Stark blinked and focused his eyes on the outside world. He had been so deep in thought that he had not even noticed the vehicle had stopped moving. With a sigh he followed Steve's actions and unhooked his seat belt then got out of the car. He nearly slammed the door behind him while his eyes looked over the building before him. The place was not very big but could not be classified as small either. It was located along the outskirts of the city by a body of water, Tony did not know, and did not care to know, which one it was. The building itself was made out of soft brown stones and had many windows littering its walls. The grass was a perfect green and it had a few stone paths leading around the sides of the place. Tony could not help but wonder if this was also a live-in rehabilitation clinic; it seemed much too large to be just a place for group therapy. Either way, it was a pretty nice stretch of property and there really wasn't anyone around, so he supposed he could count that one as a plus.

Steve had already began walking over to the front doors, so Tony followed after him slowly, he did not want to look like he was happy about being here, nor did he want to give Steve the satisfaction of being able to put him in a rush.

He entered the building behind his friend and followed him up to the front desk, taking in his surroundings. The colour of the walls was just a shade lighter than the outside of the building. The whole place seemed to be made up of gentle greens and browns, as if this calming scene would help the troubled people who came here.

"Hello," He heard Steve saying to the woman at the desk, "I have Tony-"

The other man instantly cut in, upon realizing how cute the lady was, "Tony Stark, and I have to say I must be in the right place. Only crazy people see angels and there is one right in front of me."

The woman, Linda according to her name tag, stared at Tony blankly before looking back to Steve, "Hello. I have his papers already filled out and I can take him back to the group room now. The session will be over at 6:30, you can collect him then."

Steve nodded to her and turned to Tony, "Try to behave yourself." He spoke in a low tone before turning and heading back the way they had came.

Stark rolled his eyes before looking back at Linda, "My, my, you are cold. Would it help if you pressed your body against mine?"

Once again, she completely ignored his advances, and walked around to the front of the desk, "If you'll just follow me this way…" She trailed off heading to a door on the right hand side of the room.

Tony groaned internally as he followed after her, this woman was already getting on his nerves. Usually those lies would have worked at least slightly, but she did not even seem flustered.

The man followed her down a long hallway whilst subtly glancing at the rooms around him. He realized that his earlier thought about this place also having live-in residents was true. Every door in the corridor led to, as far as he could see through the small windows, a bedroom. Tony couldn't help but think that living here would absolutely blow.

Linda held open a door for him and nodded her head, "This is the group room, and where we part. Good luck."

Tony decided not to try another pick up line and simply nodded his head then stepped into the room. He looked around to find that there were many people in the room already, all of which had stopped speaking and had focused their eyes on him.

For a brief moment he feared that someone would comment, but they all quickly looked away and went back to conversing amongst themselves. Tony raised a single eyebrow and realized that Pepper was right about no one paying the other people any mind.

Everyone in the room was sitting in chairs that were arranged in a slightly spread out circle. Tony could not help but think how much this felt like a kindergarten classroom. Sighing softly, the man made his way to the one of the open chairs by the window. Once seated, he looked around at the people in the circle. There were five people there, excluding himself. Two of those were women and the other three men. Only one of the men appeared to be younger than him while all of the women defiantly appeared to be at least five years younger.

Tony found himself ignoring nearly all of the people in the room, save for the one man who looked younger than him. This man had long slicked back black hair and impossibly green eyes. His facial structure was that of a model with his high cheekbones, strong jaw and flawless skin. This man was more beautiful than any of the women in the room.

Tony considered moving to sit beside him, as another open chair was to his left, but decided against it. Everyone here had some sort of vice and he was not so inclined as to bring home anyone with some crazy addiction, no matter how stunning they were.

The door, which Tony had entered in only moments before, opened again and a woman with graying hair and kind brown eyes stepped into the room. She walked briskly over to the chair beside the gorgeous man and sat down before addressing the people around her, "Hello, everyone. I am Dr. Cheyenne Larson, and while I know a few of you have already met me, I see that there are a couple new faces here today. So let's go around and do introductions."

If Tony could have facepalmed he would have at this moment. _'Good god, it really is like kindergarten.'_


	3. Fears

**A/N: Tony's fear will spawn off of a kidnapping/torture incident. No, it won't be like the one from Iron Man but I really wanted to keep that concept so I twisted it to make it work. Thank you all for the few reviews and favorites and follows! Please enjoy this chapter and a short Loki POV segment. c;**

**Remember to review!**

Immediately after the 'doctor' had said she wanted to do introductions, the man to her left spoke up. His hair was balding and what was left was gray. He had big blue eyes and a quiet voice, "I'm Daniel and I have alcohol dependence."

The next man over, one with dusty blonde hair spoke now, his eyes closed as if he was tired, "Jacob, sleeping pills."

'_Boring.' _The billionaire decided that he really didn't give a damn what their names were or what kind of problem they were facing. It was all bull shit anyway. This couldn't possibly help anyone. Just talking about your issues in a room full of freaks with their own problems was not going to cure you of your addictions.

The woman beside Tony spoke up and he couldn't help but listen. Despite her annoying as fuck voice she was pretty with her flat black hair and round brown eyes. When she noticed him looking at her, she made a show of looking Tony up and down before introducing herself, "I'm Amanda and I have an addiction to sexual intercourse." Tony winked and gave her his famous shit-eating grin after she said this and she giggled softly.

Dr. Larson cleared her throat loudly and Tony groaned before chirping out, "I'm Tony and I just really like to party!"

A couple of people chuckled lowly under their breath while Dr. Larson narrowed her eyes slightly. Tony was slightly proud of himself for achieving this and decided that he was going to be making a bit of an effort from now on to annoy her, maybe if he did so enough times she would kick him out and he would never have to come back to this hell hole. The idea pleased him so much that he decided he would actually listen to the last two people.

"I'm Sharon," A woman with pixie cut brown hair spoke, "And I have a gambling problem." Tony raised an eyebrow at this statement, so this place didn't just treat people with a substance abuse then?

The last man, the one that Tony felt an immense attraction too, spoke very softly and Tony had to strain to hear his words through his gorgeous accent, "I am Loki and I have a Vicodin fixation."

"Alright!" Cheyenne clapped her hands on her knees and stood up, "Now we're going to do an activity that requires everyone to be very serious," She looked pointedly at Tony, who smiled innocently, "It will help us understand each other, and ourselves, a little bit more."

She walked over to a table by the wall and grabbed a few slips of paper as well as some pencils then walked back to the group. The doctor walked around the circle, pausing in front of each person to hand them a slip and a writing utensil. Her eyes were hard when she handed Tony his and he just responded with a cheeky smile before saying, 'Thank you.'

Once everyone had the proper materials she spoke again, "You will write your greatest fear on the slip of paper, without your name, and do not write why. Once you do this you will bring it to me and I will put them in this bucket," She lifted it up and Tony idly wondered where the fuck she had gotten that from, "Does everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded and Tony looked down at his piece of paper. This was defiantly not something that he wanted to do, even if they wouldn't know it was his, he still did not want to have to admit his fear to anyone. It proved that he was scarred, that he had not moved on.

Chewing harshly on the inside of his cheek, Tony wrote down in his messy script, _'Dark, cold basement rooms with no exits or windows.'_

He folded the paper in half then stood and walked over to Cheyenne, who held out the bucket to him. Tony dropped it in and walked back to his seat, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Thinking about his fear, about those few weeks, always set him on edge. It made him want a drink immensely.

Slowly, one by one, the slips were dropped into the bucket, after the last one went in the doctor shook it up then stood, "You will all pick a piece of paper, if you get yours put it back."

Tony's anxiety doubled as she made her way around the circle for a second time. Someone was going to read his fear, and what if they happened to recognize the writing? What if they knew and confronted him?

When Dr. Larson stopped in front of him he grabbed a slip absentmindedly. The billionaire's eyes were glued to the bucket as she walked around. When Loki had drawn the last slip, she addressed the group, "Alright. You will read out what the slip says and say why you think that person could be afraid of this thing."

Stark's eyes practically bugged out of his head. He almost yelled at her but he then decided that would look suspicious. The man went back to chewing on his inner cheek while Daniel began, "'Being left alone.' I think the person fears this because they have been left before and they do not want to experience the pain of loneliness again. I believe that they just want someone to stay with them and fear losing that."

"I have…" Jacob glanced at his slip, "'Losing everything.' The person is probably afraid of having nothing left to call their own and watching as their things slowly diminish in front of them."

Amanda, who looked slightly unstable, spoke very quietly, "'Dreams coming to life.' I would guess that this fear is because of very dark dreams or nightmares that have haunted the person for a long time."

Tony, who had not even read his slip yet, instantly looked down and read through it before clearing his throat, "Well, mine says 'Missing out on what I care about most.'" Tony paused a moment before he spoke again, "I suppose that they fear this because they have done so before and did not like the consequences."

"'Learning that everything is a lie.'" Sharon read off her slip, "I think that they fear this because they are unsure of themselves already and are afraid that they will be knocked down even further in the future."

Tony realized, with a start, that his was the only one left. The genius tried to keep his face blank as Loki read off his slip of paper, accent making his words sound beautiful, "It says, 'Dark, cold basement rooms with no exits or windows.' I believe that this fear is a result of being trapped earlier in life and the person is afraid of once more feeling helpless and contained. More likely than not they fear being stuck with no way to free themselves."

How the hell had Loki made his fear sound so normal? So… Acceptable?

Dr. Cheyenne let a long moment of silence fall over the room, perhaps trying to get everyone to think about what had been said. All Tony was thinking about however, was his bar back home and how wonderful it would be to get there and drink down a bottle of scotch. "That's all the time we have for today. I look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday."

It was like class being dismissed, for all the adults in the room stood and made their way from the room, a few lingered back and walked beside one another, talking softly. Tony considered going up to Loki and flirting with him, but the man had vanished from the room the moment she gave the okay. Obviously he hated being here even more than Tony did, and that was quite a feat.

Tony walked down the hallway he had remembered taking to get to the group room and soon found himself back in the lobby where his friend Steve was talking idly was Linda. He sauntered over to them and raised an eyebrow at the woman who had been so cold to him but was now practically glowing under Steve's smile, "I see how it is. You like those patriotic boys."

The assistant looked at Tony, annoyance creeping up in her eyes, "I don't know what you mean."

"Well, if you like patriots, you should know that I keep an American flag behind my bed. Would you like to see it first hand?" His eyebrows wiggled suggestively.

Before Linda could retort, Steve groaned, "Tony, shut up. And Linda, it was nice talking to you. I have to get him back to his ugly tower now."

"Whoa, whoa! Stark tower is beautiful!"

Steve rolled his eyes and grabbed Tony's forearm, dragging him towards the car. Once they had both slid in and were belted down, Rogers spoke again, "How was it?"

"It was like I really need a fucking drink now." Tony groaned, looking out the window.

Steve simply sighed and did the same.

~.~

Loki entered his apartment and hastily tossed his keys to the side and kicked off his shoes, His whole body was aching, screaming at him. He made his way to the kitchen and pulled the silverware drawer out from the counter. Thor had thought that he had gotten all of the pills, but Loki was just to smart for him. The black haired man grabbed four little white pills from the hole dug into the wall then pulled his hand out. Loki popped them in his mouth and dry swallowed them quickly.

That had been hell. It burned him to have to attend something so degrading, and he loathed the people he had to interact with there. Loki was better off on his own, better off choking down the pills and trying to forget how fucked up everything was. When that Sharon had read his fear aloud, she had made it sound stupid, even without the intent too.

Loki lied down on his couch and stared at the ceiling. He hated all the events that had transpired today, he hated his brother for making him go, hated the doctors for saving his life when he had accidently overdosed, hated _everything._

Slowly Loki's anger drifted away into an accepting numbness. The white tendrils from the medication began grasping at his brain and locking over his nerves. The man felt his stiff fists relax into open palms and he closed his eyes slowly and let the blankness take him under.


End file.
